The reflection of the moon was in the river, and a small boat kept rowing. A group of people dressed in black robes slowly approached under the ship.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

After three consecutive gunshots, bullet marks appeared on the walls around the bottle.

"It seems to have missed." Chen Xu was satisfied with this result. Although he didn't hit the bottle, from an angle perspective, it did not exceed the range of human body. In other words, he could shoot at people without worrying about hitting something else. For a beginner like him, this was already a good result.

"According to the plot, those who claim to be Pharaoh's Royal Guards should have come aboard!" A glint flashed in Chen Xu's eyes.

In the movie, Pharaoh's Royal Guards were on O'Connell's side. But for someone like Chen Xu who aimed to obtain The Book of Dead Spells for himself only, they were just obstacles.

After all, he could deceive O'Connell and Evelyn who knew nothing about The Book of Dead Spells but couldn't fool these guards; there would definitely be conflicts when they met.

"Strike first or suffer later." A cold light flashed in Chen Xu's eyes as he picked up his gun and loaded it with bullets before tiptoeing towards Evelyn’s room.

Seeing a dark figure inside it made him pause for a moment before putting away his revolver and taking out his dagger instead. He pushed open the door abruptly and rushed forward when seeing one of Pharaoh’s Royal Guards; immediately exerted force and stabbed him fiercely into his abdomen with his sharp knife while avoiding being noticed by others nearby.

"We need to leave now," said Chen Xu as he grabbed Evelyn firmly by her arm before heading outside together with her.

Bang!

Someone broke into their room suddenly - It turned out that person was O’Connell himself.

O'Connell was stunned to see Chen Xu and Evelyn together. Then he saw the corpse on the ground, his face changed: "Let's go, we need to leave here."

"We should jump into the river now." Chen Xu said in a low voice. "There are many people outside, and it is on fire. This ship cannot be saved; jumping into the river is our only choice."

"Then let's jump." O'Connell made up his mind immediately. "I'll lead the way, you follow me behind while escorting Evelyn."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunshots were heard everywhere outside with bullets flying all over the place; wooden boards of the ship could not stop them from penetrating through.

"Oh, I hate this situation where there are bullets everywhere. If one isn't careful enough, they will be hit by stray bullets - it’s purely luck-based," Chen Xu muttered to himself silently before vowing that he would never let such a thing happen again.

"We count 123 and rush out together." O'Connell fought back while shouting loudly.

"1."

Chen Xu calmed down and adjusted himself to his best state.

"2."

He bent his legs slightly as if ready for an assault.

"3!"

Chen Xu rushed out suddenly with his body intentionally or unintentionally hiding beside O’Connell so as to avoid being shot at directly by enemies nearby.

With a thud sound, three of them broke through the wooden fence together and jumped off into water below.

"At last we're safe," thought Chen Xu relievedly.

Pharaoh's Royal Guards came here for The Book of Dead Spells map and key which were still inside Evelyn’s room without being taken away yet; he believed that Pharaoh's Royal Guards wouldn’t notice their presence either.

"No map or key means we have no other options but figuring something else later," whispered Chen Xu in heart.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

He carefully recalled the swimming posture he had learned at school and followed O'Connell to swim ashore.

"We lost everything." Evelyn complained while walking on shore. "Our tools and clothes..."

"Is the money still there?" Chen Xu interrupted her words.

"The money is still here, don't worry," Jonathan smiled and patted his bag. "When I went to find Evelyn, I saw that she didn't bring a bag with her, so I brought it over."

"You're really fond of money." Evelyn glanced at Jonathan dissatisfiedly before saying: "Why weren’t my tools and clothes taken out?"

"Don't blame Jonathan; he did the right thing. With money, we can buy new clothes and tools." Chen Xu said in a deep voice. "O'Connell, do you know who these people are?"

"I'm not sure either but their attire is similar to those soldiers who attacked us last time; they should be from the same group," O’Connell replied seriously.

"These people attacked your soldiers last time, and now they have attacked us. It seems like they want to stop us from going to Hamnata. But how did they know we were going there?" Chen Xu asked curiously. "According to reason, no one has gone to Hamnata except for us."

"There are also those Americans," Johnson quickly added. "Those Americans also went to Hamnata, maybe they accidentally leaked the information."

"If that's the case, then we need to be careful. It seems very dangerous to go to Hamnata this time."

"Then should we not go?" The prison warden next to them suddenly interjected. "I came here to monitor my property, not fight with others. Fighting should be left up to the military."

The prison warden thought it would be an easy trip but after being attacked he was already unhappy.

"What if you guys go and bring back the gold? I only want 30%," he said.

"But what about all of the gold and gems in Hamnata that we can embezzle without you there?" Chen Xu joked around. "There is so much gold and so many gems there worth millions of pounds sterling or even billions if sold off completely!"

Upon hearing this, the prison warden carefully calculated in his mind facing such a fortune worth billions of pounds sterling; he felt uneasy leaving these people alone.

"I'll come with you guys; I cannot give you a chance at embezzling my gold and gems."

Chen Xu was speechless upon hearing this.

...

Desert Oasis

This place is not just a place for water and grass but also a hub for small commodities where many merchants travel far distances here exchanging goods while travelers who wish venture into desert buy camels here as well.

"Old man, I want all of these..." Chen Xu gestured towards all of the camels before him by drawing a large circle around them. "What's your price?"

"One hundred pounds sterling each," the old man replied.

"Why don't you just rob him?" The prison warden immediately became angry.

"Calm down." Chen Xu gave the prison warden a look.

It is no wonder that the prison warden was so angry; today's pound sterling is not as worthless as it will be in future times. Today's pound sterling is still tied to gold, which means people can directly exchange their pounds for gold.

In this era, 500 pounds can be exchanged for 117.71 ounces of gold, equivalent to $100,000 in later years. The old man's asking price of one hundred pounds per camel would mean buying a camel with $20,000 USD in later years - more profitable than robbing banks!

"Sorry, old man but your prices are too high." Chen Xu pulled the prison warden away.

After walking around once more and returning back again to the same spot he said: "Old man I want all of these camels."

Chen Xu was quite helpless; this old man’s camels were probably already among the cheapest ones here while others charged even higher prices.

"These people are simply stealing money!" The prison warden complained indignantly.

"Don't worry; we can earn back this money." Chen Xu comforted him. "Think about it when we get to Hamnata where there is gold everywhere waiting for us to take away! At that time every single camel represents gold and sparkling gems worth millions or billions of pounds sterling! Will you still care about these small one hundred-pound notes then?"

The image of piles upon piles of golden treasures appeared in Johnson’s mind followed by images of being unable to bring all those treasures due to lack of camels causing him great distress making his body tremble uncontrollably: “No way! These treasures belong only to me! They should not be left to rot in Hamnata!"

"They say capitalists dare to face the gallows for a 300% profit, but do you know how much gold and gems are in Hamnata? It's not just a 300% profit; it's three hundred times the profit. For this kind of profit, I am willing to go to hell and consort with death for ten thousand years."

"Right, I'm willing to go to hell for a 300-fold profit," the prison warden swallowed nervously, filled with excitement. "I'll give you all this money to use as you please. Just find Hamnata and the legendary treasure."

"You're obsessed with wealth," Chen Xu sneered inwardly.

He bought all of the old man's camels and enough water and food to form a small caravan.

"Oh, why do you need so many camels? We only need five," Evelyn immediately asked upon seeing the camels.

"These camels are all for transporting goods. His Excellency, our prison warden wants to transport all of the gold out of Hamnata. And we also need enough water and food in case we get lucky and encounter a sandstorm in the desert," Chen Xu explained. "Being frugal in the desert is being responsible for one's own life."

"Chen Xu did well." O'Connor also saw so many camels and was pleased. "In the desert, being prepared is essential because desert weather changes like a child's mood swings."

"I actually think it's necessary to bring these camels along too. We can't carry that much gold ourselves but with these camels it will be different..." Johnson agreed as well.

Seeing everyone else agreeing, Evelyn could only nod her head reluctantly. "Alright then, I'll listen to you guys. Hopefully this investment won't be a waste."

"These investments belong solely to His Excellency, he will take responsibility himself; it has nothing to do with us." Chen Xu chuckled lightly before adding: "By the way, can you help me tie these supplies onto the camel? I can't handle them alone."